


Cards, Monster Fighting, and Other Girly Things

by Himaryan



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-23
Updated: 2013-11-23
Packaged: 2018-01-02 11:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1056112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Himaryan/pseuds/Himaryan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bonding after a monster attack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cards, Monster Fighting, and Other Girly Things

**Author's Note:**

> [twotime-thing](http://twotime-thing.tumblr.com/) on tumblr prompted me with, "I would love gen Piper, Hazel, and Annabeth gossiping about the boys."
> 
> Gen fanfiction is my lifeblood, so I was excited to write this. But, there’s not much going on in terms of plot; this is just slice of life with kickass demigod girls bonding in a low key setting. This fic also contains mentions of canon pairings as of The House of Hades (Frazel, Jasper, and Percabeth) and takes place beyond The Heroes of Olympus series.

Cabin 13, otherwise known as Hades’ Cabin, was not the ideal place for gossiping and general hanging out, but after hours of monster fighting and needing a place to crash after getting their wounds dressed in The Big House at Camp Half-Blood, it was the only quiet place available. Hazel’s feet were kicked up on the bed from where she laid on the ground to help alleviate the last bits of aches in her feet. Blankets and pillows were dragged off one of the empty beds to make a very large cat bed on the floor to accommodate all three of them: Annabeth, who was curled around a pillow as she gave them props for their battle strategies from their recent fight; Piper, who was using her trusty Horn of Plenty to summon them up snacks because gods when was the last time they ate; and Hazel, who was trying to figure out if she was going to stay up all night because she was still hopped up on adrenaline or if she was going to pass out any second.

“I’m going to remember this feeling,” Hazel started as she rolled over. Her legs dropped to the floor and she curled up to face them. “The next time you ladies come to me for help on a quest that did _not_ require me at all.”

Annabeth snorted. “And you’ll come with us anyway.”

“Well, yeah,” Hazel conceded. “But that don’t mean I’m not going to give y’all an earful before _and_ after.”

They dissolved into giggles.

“I’m so tired,” Annabeth groaned after the laughter came to a close. She picked at a muffin as she spoke. “And I’ve got class in the morning. I should really go to sleep.”

“You should skip class,” Piper pointed out as she finished her muffin and pulled a juice box from the pile. “I’m sure you can get someone here to write you an excuse. You kind of deserve it considering that badass move you pulled when you finished off that Drakon!” Piper and Hazel exchanged looks of pride at Annabeth’s last stand; a gutsy move that seemed to lack any sense of self preservation and got the monster right through the throat. Annabeth had been sluggish the entire fight; Hazel was worried that she was feeling sick considering how green she looked facing the monster. But, Annabeth pulled it together in the end after several close calls.

“Yeah, I suppose so,”Annabeth agreed in a monotone voice, and she stared off to the side. Annabeth’s mind was made up of cogs and gears that were constantly evaluating and reevaluating every single morsel of information she took in, and seeing her with eyes as dead as the cabin’s patron was unnerving. Hazel chalked it up to the long battle.

“Come on,” Piper tapped Annabeth’s knee. “Relax. Let’s do something fun.” The touch and Piper’s words seemed to send a bolt of electricity through Annabeth as she sat up. Her eyes were much brighter now.

“I don’t think there’s anything to do in here,” Hazel sighed. She took in their surroundings. It was dark, but not unpleasantly so as there was a cast of light from green fire in strategic places. The sparse furniture gave off an iridescent glow. It didn’t look lived in or gave any ideas of what someone who lived here liked to do for fun. It was like a graveyard, desolate with no signs of life, but it was because of those qualities that it made the perfect spot to hang out. They wouldn’t be able to talk in peace like this in the Aphrodite or Athena cabins. “I never leave anything here when I need a place to crash, and we shouldn’t touch Nico’s stuff. Maybe we can sneak some games from The Big House like last time?”

“Last time, right!” Piper crawled to stick her hand under the bed. “Maybe it’s still... Yup!” Piper retrieved a deck of Uno cards bound together with a rubber band. 

“I thought you took that back to The Big House?” Annabeth sat up, crossed legs. “Is Monopoly still under there? We didn’t even finish, come to think of it.” Hazel tried to hold in her grin at the memory of their last hang-out in this cabin; Piper flipped the board over after Hazel had almost won not long after starting (in monopoly time) in a fit of rage and accusatory finger waving about cheating. It wasn’t Hazel’s fault she was naturally good at handling all forms of money- even fake bills.

“Yeah. Well, I meant to take them back, but I got distracted after I woke up and completely forgot,” Piper unbound the cards and started shuffling.

“You shouldn’t leave things in here,” Hazels eyebrows knitted together and her mouth twisted into a pout as Piper dealt cards. Annabeth nudged Hazel with her elbow.

“She was too busy smooching golden boy, I’d wager.”

“Annabeth!” Hazel felt her cheeks heat up.

“Well, I was,” admitted Piper.

“Piper!”

“Well, we didn’t do it _inside_ the cabin, if that’s what you’re worried about. Just against it.”

Hazel fiddled with the neck line of her shirt like it was a fan.

“Hades would probably find a way to zap you out if you did,” Annabeth added as Piper started the game by discarding a red seven card.

“Probably. I wonder if it’s worth testing out.”

“Definitely not,” Hazel felt like her cheeks were on fire. She wouldn’t be surprised if she was as red as the zero card she just discarded, her dark ebony skin notwithstanding. 

“You sure?” Piper leaned back, and the loose braids at the side of her face swung like a pendulum. Annabeth reversed the order of turns. “You and Frank never snuck off somewhere you weren’t supposed to?”

“No,” Hazel drew cards until she found a red to put down. “I’m pretty sure sneaking off to an unfriendly god’s territory to do... _stuff_ is how most myths with really bad endings start.”

“Most myths with really bad endings start because the big guy in the sky didn’t keep it in his pants,” Piper whispered as if to keep Jupiter (or would it be Zeus here since not only are they at Camp Half-Blood, but it’s also two to one, Greeks, Hazel wondered.) from hearing, but the cabin didn’t get struck by lightning, so Piper put down another card. 

“Hazel is right, though,” Annabeth drew cards. “The myth of Medusa... Well,” she put down a draw four, and looked back and forth at Hazel and Piper. “I don’t have to explain that, do I? Also, the new color is blue.”

Piper made a hmm sound as Hazel huffed at the four cards she was forced to draw.

“So, how are things going on the Roman side of things?” Annabeth asked as Piper threw down a card. 

“They’re fine. Camp’s still trying to get used to being friendly with, well, another camp. And the visitors. I sometimes worry Terminus is going to have an anxiety attack with all the visitors and pit stops we get from y’all’s side.”

“Can minor Gods _have_ anxiety attacks?”

Hazel shrugged. Annabeth discarded.

“Anyway, Reyna’s doing fine. Stressed, but fine. So’s Frank,” Hazel couldn’t help the grin spreading on her face honey slow and just as sweet. “He’s doing real well alongside Reyna. He’s so nervous that he’s going to mess up, but it almost feels like he was born to lead, y’know?” Hazel threw down a draw two card. Piper’s mouth scrunched to the side and let out a _hmpf_ as she drew two more cards. 

“The other senators are mostly okay with him, but...” Hazel paused as Annabeth stacked two cards and changed the color to green. “They don’t like how new he is which is stupid. I mean, how can you be worried about how new someone is when they’ve got the kind of accomplishments he has? Ugh,” Hazel threw down a card. “And that brings him down, too. I wish he would just listen to me, but he’s so worried, and he doesn’t want to tell me how much this is bothering him, but I can tell, alright?”

“You can’t force him to just not worry,” Piper advised as she stacked two cards and the color changed to yellow. 

“What can I do, then?”

“Compliment him when he’s successful with things that have been stressing him. Also when he’s not,” Annabeth threw down a change color card. “Green. Boys have really fragile egos, and you have to keep telling them they’re good at stuff or they’ll start getting down and defeated and won’t get anything done.”

“Is that how you handle Percy?” Hazel cracked a grin as she discarded. Annabeth’s eyes crinkled from the broad, toothy grin she was shooting at Hazel. Piper drew cards. 

“Somewhat.”

“You can help by taking his mind off of things,” Piper added as she grabbed another muffin and chomped down as Annabeth discarded. “I know New Rome is real cool and all, but do you guys ever leave? For dates?”

Hazel bit her lip as she stacked two cards and changed the color to red.

“No. We always stay in New Rome. Something about monsters catching a whiff of ya and attacking ruins the romantic atmosphere.”

“I’d say it adds to it,” Annabeth countered, and Hazel snorted a little. Maybe she was a little old fashioned, but to Hazel, dates meant hand holding and looking deep into each others eyes not stabbing monsters in theirs. 

“Well, mix it up,” Piper threw down a card. “Take him away from New Rome to get his mind off of it. He needs a breather, and it’ll do well for you, too, in the long run. If you guys fight some monsters along the way, well, that wouldn’t be so bad for a child of Mars, would it?” 

Hazel smiled at the two of them as Annabeth discarded. Before... In her previous life, she didn’t have many friends. Actually, if she thought hard about it, Sammy was the only one she could remember. But that was years ago, more lifetimes ago than she’s been actively alive. Sitting here in the twenty-first century getting advice from a daughter of Athena and a daughter of Aphrodite... There was no other place or time that Hazel would rather be than here.

“Go, already!” Piper threw balled up trash from her muffin at Hazel. Apparently she zoned off. Again. Her ears felt hot as she discarded again, but soon Annabeth started recounting a story of when she, Percy, and Rachel got stuck together in a car ride to Nebraska (long story) that had Hazel in stitches. Cabin 13 may have been made with death in mind, but it was filled with a wealth of friendship.

**Author's Note:**

> [Read on tumblr](http://billyxkaplan.tumblr.com/post/67888192984/cards-monster-fighting-and-other-girly-things).


End file.
